Backabuddy
Challenge
How can we engage with South Africa?
Backabuddy is an online donation-based crowdfunding platform helping NGOs and individuals to raise money for important causes that they care about. The website sees various new initiatives going up daily: individuals taking part in challenges to raise money for charities, families setting up campaigns to raise medical funds for loved ones, and organizations that are doing incredible things for the less-fortunate.
Backabuddy had access to plenty of these amazing stories but the challenge was getting them in front of the rest of South Africa. They attempted to build relationships with journalists, but it proved more difficult than expected. Still they struggled to get their campaigns into the public eye, especially the thousands of South Africans able and willing to help but not sure how to. Backabuddy is a crowdfunding platform that had no crowd.
"Working first with Dominique and now Joelle, we love that the team is always available and so helpful. After committing to weekly meetings and prioritizing making the most of the system, we realized how easy it is to use. Today, it has far exceeded my expectations. We now have a way to get out there so that the public can see and support the initiatives. The result is more campaigns being funded and an overall greater positive impact on the communities of South Africa! I would recommend Meltwater in a heart-beat.!
Catherine Du Plooy
Solution
Discovering a Myriad of Relevant Influencers
Before Meltwater, Backabuddy was sending out mass releases to old PR databases — many journalists had left the publications, email addresses were outdated and as soon as they began building relationships with publications and radio stations, the contact person would leave.
Since coming on board, Backabuddy are finding most value in the Influencers tool. Because the database is continuously and automatically updated with appropriate and relevant journalists, Backabuddy has found it incredibly useful. They now have many contacts wanting to share their stories and campaigns, all available at a click of a button.
The company said that they find the Beats and Location features within the Influencers tool especially helpful with focusing on specific journalists, and love the mobile app for its practicality.
Summary
Meltwater Helps Backabuddy To
Increase Awareness, Engagement and Support
"Once we prioritized Meltwater, the increase in campaign awareness, engagement and support was evident. The size of donations grew and we tracked our growing media coverage. This year, we've picked up 74 articles written about us, and we expect that number will just keep growing."
Build Relationships
"Before, we struggled with contacting the right journalists and publications. Meltwater made it simple to send out press releases, which made it easier for us to make the first point of contact and pick up the relationships from there. Now we have journalists and donators contacting us."
Measure Success
"Through Meltwater, we've been able to track and monitor an increase in website traffic, campaign interest and financial support. We can easily track all the publications that mention us and we share those with the campaign creators. And the reporting is a great benefit— we can track the possible Rand value we're saving, our Return on Investment as well as our overall media reach. Over a six-month period, we've had 74 articles published, an extended reach of 89,378,712 and Meltwater has saved us R322 625."
— Catherine Du Plooy
